Comments

Localone

Many commentors to the observer poll mentioned they wouldnt attend because "The decision has already been made" which is hogwash. There are numerous factors involved here with multiple parties having input. Parties such as NRG, National Grid, the NYS Independent System operator and the Public service commision. Of course NRG and National Grid have conflicting agendas. The PSC's charter is to protect rate payers and retain reliability while the System Operator is tasked with reliability and "reserve capacity" among other things. In typical fashion too many residents just give up without a fight, thinking thier voice means nothing, while on the other hand the sierra club will bus people in from areas far and wide and dont give up till they take thier last breath. It seems those who dont give up are winning, what does that say? I think it says persistence pays off. Those in support of this project need to attend, make thier opinions heard and hope for the best otherwi

Captain

50,000 can show up and it ain't gonna change a thing! I don't believe for a second that the PSC will ignore the Business Council's & Nat Grid's position on this matter and instead rule in favor of NRG (NiMo). Cuomo strongly supports buying power from outside NYS (Canada & NJ), so to me, this says it all!

We import just about everything else in this country (under the pretense it benefits consumers), so why not electric?

I'm afraid the decision has already been made, so this public hearing at Dod's Hall is nothing but a political farce.

Steiner

We need to hear from cronig. He is a believer of taxing your way to prosperity. Compare this project to the billion to Buffalo project, funded by state taxpayers, cronig. everyone was gaga for it and cant wait to get started. Here we have a private project and private enterprise made this country libs , and there is endless delay.The state wants dunkirk to go the way of lackawanna so dunkirk can be ever dependent on state money, the demcrats and the beloved govt employee to survive. It wont work, but facts confuse liberals.

judeye

Just wondering if they will also consider alterntive...green...energy in the plan?

I see where the TEA Party Patriots of Georgia are fighting the energy company down there to try to get them to stop the monopoly on energy sources. Does anyone know where the local TEA party stands on this issue?

Dcronlg

Steinerdzzz...I believe in taxes as investments to promote the general welfare of our society,so I do support tax & tax credit investments for private enterprise to invest, like the Regional Councils and Billion for Buffalo. I also believe private enterprises which receive public incentives have to fully deliver on their promises, ie, all the jobs they promised to create, or they have to pay back the money -- I heartily do not approve of IDAs for pizza places, car dealers.

In this instance, these private enterprises are utilities, are monopolies, they are regulated and are told how much they can charge and the RoR for investors. Even an idiot can understand the need to regulate monopolistic utilities, but seeing that you don't understand it....

PR24601

judeye, the TEA party is pathetic and a bane to the GOP. They need to crawl back under the rock they came out of. They have no clear direction, operate under the guise of constitutionalism, yet can't get their members to either the liberal or conservative side of the fence. It's a rag-tag flash in the pan party that can go by the wayside, preferably sooner than later.

We've been over the green/alternative energy scenario. It's not happening. There's no money in it, and it would be costly to consumers as well.

We need to focus on the issue at hand, and that is saving DK with a private enterprise that is crucial to the area. This town will be a mini-Detroit if NRG closes. And you snobs on the other side of the Thruway, if you don't think this affect you - you're wrong. Urban creep, my friends. Cassadaga will be the place to live.

Dcronlg

I agree -- this decision is a foregone conclusion; there are larger macro-market interests in seeing this NRG thing not to go through.

Again, there is no one to blame but NRG -- not the state, not NatGrid, not any business councils, and certainly not libs or environmentalists.

NRG reminds me of the perp, asking for mercy as he is now an orphan, despite his murdering his parents.

NRG knew, knew, KNEW what the energy market was, where is was going, when it was going there, how it was going to get there and why. For example, it wasn't coal, it was NG (heck, Terry Pegula may not know how to run a hockey team but he DEFINITELY knew it was NG...). After 9/11/2001, new grids and new grids distribution were created. While others adapted, invested and changed, NRG did not.

So, at this 11th hour, NRG is crying crocodile tears asking to be tossed a life preserver, City of Dunkirk is doing its Chicken Little and the macro-market is moving on.

roberta2

Just another twist on this--Willow was planted all over the county to be harvested and burn at the plant--very very low emissions and would have been a large cash crop for land owers --it was dropped---If you look around you can see it growing all over the place---NO ONE GIVE A CRAP ABOUT NOTING -OR YOU OR ME

killers

Isn't ironic that in past elections that the majority of city residents vote for the powers to be that want to see any coal power plant shut down. It is sad that we all will suffer, but the city will suffer the most. So the voters in the city have reaped what that have sown. So keep voting for the Democrats, like Cuomo, Shumer, Gillibrand and Obama and you will continue to pay the price.

Localone

Roberta back when the Dunkirk plant was still under Niagara Mohawk ownership the NYS DEC put the squash to the willow project, a classic example of 2 govt agencies fighting each other. Heres how it went, the US dept of energy funded the initial research and a small pilot project to prove that the willow and Bush Industries wood and sawdust waste could be burned, when it was proven to work, the NYS DEC said not going to happen because its a new source of emissions. It turned out to be nothing but a pure waste of time and money.

Localone

Obama has nothing to do with this, the Dunkirk coal facility is equipped to meet all proposed future environmental regulations. The issue at hand is 100% due to hydrfracking and the bottom dropping out of Natural Gas. In the northeast US, the majority of generation is produced by natural gas, as a result the cost is driven by natural gas. Due to this, in the past, coal producers made boatloads of cash while gas producers struggled and set the market prices. Now the tables have turned.